After a long and intense tour of a city, a cold beer is what lots of people crave the most. In many European countries, there’s no issue with just doing that on the street. Can you do that in Prague, though? Doesn’t it have an alcohol ban? Let’s take a look!
Can you drink alcohol in public in Prague?
Sadly, we have to use the age-old classic: it depends. Formally, there’s no limit on drinking alcohol in the Czech Republic in public – you can do it anywhere. The ‘but’ here is that any city can set zones where you cannot drink, period. And Prague makes use of that privilege. As such, the answer is that it depends on which part of the city you’re in.
Initially, the alcohol ban in Prague was relatively tame – it included areas around the historic centre so as not to have tourists meet drunken groups snailing through the city. In 2022, the list of banned places exceeded 1,000. Now, it also affects parks, schools, banks and piers of the Vltava (from midnight to 9am), children’s playgrounds, healthcare facilities, etc. Only December 31 and January 1 are exempt from this rule to allow for New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Often, there are signs informing that the area is off-limit for drinking – sadly, not all of the thousand places have such a sign. Further, police can just catch someone with an open bottle and that’s enough to warrant a stop.
Reception of the ban
While banning alcohol consumption near playgrounds and school makes sense, the ban isn’t a particularly popular solution overall. On a small 320-reader poll on expats.cz, 57% disagreed with the ban, declaring that it doesn’t accomplish anything. This is even supported by the ex-Mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib, who said that the ban is useless and will only hinder people who wouldn’t cause problems in the first place.
Still, dura lex, sed lex. Just to be on the safe side, keep the drinking off of public spaces unless you can be specifically sure that the place you’re in is fine for that.
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